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> The world is only nine missed meals away from revolution. If true, why didn't civilization collapse into Mad Max during the great depression? I do think dem

> The world is only nine missed meals away from revolution. If true, why didn't civilization collapse into Mad Max during the great depression? I do think democracy, the way it currently works, has a problem. It doesn't seem to be able to actually solve problems anymore. This appears to be a relatively recent problem, as it's certainly solved problems before. I'm not sure exactly what it is or when it happened, I've seen it suggested the fall of the Berlin wall and the loss of credible competition from the east bloc is the cause. Could be, but it seems obvious something has broken. So far it's been able to rest on its laurels and coast on the good name of democracy, but I'm concerned that if it stays dysfunctional and is seen visibly floundering amidst growing problems, then what faith is left in the institution may come to evaporate. I don't know if revolution is the logical conclusion, seems more likely to just sort of fall apart. What gives the state authority is that people believe it has authority. If enough people stop believing that, so the state goes away.

dragonwriter 3y ago
> > The world is only nine missed meals away from revolution. > If true, why didn't civilization collapse into Mad Max during the great depression? I mean, that's when the international (and not entirely nonviolent) revolution in which the modern mixed economy generally replaced classic capitalism in the developed world happened, but WWII and, even more, the subsequent Cold War in which state capitalist “Communists” squared off against mixed economy “Capitalists” really made recongition of that both difficult and politically inconvenient.
Bendy 3y ago
> I do think democracy, the way it currently works, has a problem. It doesn't seem to be able to actually solve problems anymore. I agree with you and this is because democracy is terminally on the defensive. Which is alas, a losing strategy. Technological advances (accelerated by capitalism) have brought ever increasing power to the individual and private organizations that the state has to run like a red queen introducing more and more legislation, regulation and increasingly byzantine bureaucracy backed up with the sorcery of propaganda and fiscal–monetary policies to fortify its paranoid self against the imaginary, and very soon to be real horde. “A dying society accumulates laws like a dying man accumulates remedies” because you can’t be under siege forever. “The bomber always gets through”.
Paul-Craft 3y ago
> If true, why didn't civilization collapse into Mad Max during the great depression? Perhaps you've seen those old photos of lines of people standing outside soup kitchens? Might I remind you that there was no global ecosystem or global climate collapse in the 1930s? Such things have happened on a local scale in the past, before there was such a thing as "global civilization," resulting in the collapse of individual civilizations, but this time really is different.

dragonwriter 3y ago

> > The world is only nine missed meals away from revolution. > If true, why didn't civilization collapse into Mad Max during the great depression? I mean, that's when the international (and not entirely nonviolent) revolution in which the modern mixed economy generally replaced classic capitalism in the developed world happened, but WWII and, even more, the subsequent Cold War in which state capitalist “Communists” squared off against mixed economy “Capitalists” really made recongition of that both difficult and politically inconvenient.

Bendy 3y ago

> I do think democracy, the way it currently works, has a problem. It doesn't seem to be able to actually solve problems anymore. I agree with you and this is because democracy is terminally on the defensive. Which is alas, a losing strategy. Technological advances (accelerated by capitalism) have brought ever increasing power to the individual and private organizations that the state has to run like a red queen introducing more and more legislation, regulation and increasingly byzantine bureaucracy backed up with the sorcery of propaganda and fiscal–monetary policies to fortify its paranoid self against the imaginary, and very soon to be real horde. “A dying society accumulates laws like a dying man accumulates remedies” because you can’t be under siege forever. “The bomber always gets through”.

Paul-Craft 3y ago

> If true, why didn't civilization collapse into Mad Max during the great depression? Perhaps you've seen those old photos of lines of people standing outside soup kitchens? Might I remind you that there was no global ecosystem or global climate collapse in the 1930s? Such things have happened on a local scale in the past, before there was such a thing as "global civilization," resulting in the collapse of individual civilizations, but this time really is different.